The Wailua Vigil-My Thoughts (From a Participant)

Aloha, kakou.

The vigil for me was an exiting event. I had no idea who would show up, or really how the ceremonies were going to be presented. To be sure, I was worried about my health, I had just gotten over a horrific bout with the flu, with temperatures of over 105 degrees, and an ambulance ride to the hospital. My legs, which have been swollen for months, but have begun to heal, it was still going to be very difficult for me to stand long.

The most important thing, was that I had outgrown my old pa'u, since I am now tipping the scales at about 320 pounds. Then of course there was a ride to be arranged, and the kids to take care of as well.

Running around trying to get two teenagers organized, packed, cell phones charged, family freinds rallied to the cause. One dear hanai sister and her husband driving me to and from the event, another fantastic couple, and hanai Ohana, Eric Taylor and his partner Ray, coming to the rescue, with a gorgeously sewn pa'u in 48 hours, and a beautiful guest room for my daughters to rest in, in right down the road from the event, making them pizza, spoiling them terribly and tucking them into a luxurious room all their own.

During all of these preparations, I had been franticlly trying to prepare my hand pounded tapa cloth, which had gotten stiff, and hadn't been used in awhile. I was very concerned about my largest piece for my kihei, and was franticlly trying to get it through three washings, and hangings on the outside line. It was a wonderful joint effort with my daughter, who was interested to learn about the process which was a very good sign.

I was praying that the sun would dry my tapa by some miracle, and it did. I had prepared several pieces as gifts to give to special family friends. This is the real Kauai style, soft as silk and thin. I hadn't dyed it yet, and it had no pounded markings on it, nor stampings, but I felt that the recipients could do that themselves.

I was exited as I arrived. My hearing isn't so good these days, and I think I blew out poor Auntie Nani's ears when I arrived, but it was exiting to have something like this going on. As Eric arrived, and we all fussed trying to get me dressed and ready, and I fussed over Kaulana, trying to impress upon her shorts were not appropriate, but in true teenager style, we covered them up with na kihei.

I had rushed around the night before, making my lei la'i, and preparing a hokupu for the ceremony not knowing if we would have a lele or not. It was wonderful to see so many dear friends, and what I consider hanai ohana. From the Kaleiohi to the Chandlers, there were so many dear friends there, and especially wonderful to have Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani there, and of course, dear Louie!. These three are true dignified Kupuna. I admire them greatly.

It was wonderful to see the halaus show up, and their cooperation with the pahu drumming, and the chants selected. I had not gone to the pre ceremony, so some of the chants were unfamiliar to me. But believe me, after 24 hours of chanting them, I learned them, trust me. Puna Dawson, someone that I truly respect and admire was there, and The main Kumu, Kehau who had organized the event as well. I was impressed with her halau, as half the people in it were dear old friends of mine.

Later on, during our short break I had teased them, by saying we should all kanikapila. Louie, another family friend of ours laughed and said no, they were all under kapu, so me being the little imp I am tried to test their faithfulness to this ritual. They passed with flying colors and I was most impressed. I was also glad to see the lele dedicated to Lono, and to see the haumana dancing a wonderful "ki'i pohaku" kahiko. This is important to honor those important male ki'i pohaku at the front of the heiau.

I must confess though, this was a bit of an ordeal for me, but as the Kumu said, its not about our comfort but honoring the Gods and Godesses. I was also impressed with the inclusiveness of the halaus. 20 or thirty years ago, it wasnt that common. To see everyone, dancing so beautifully and very excellently of all ethnicities and nationalities really brings home the fact that hula has indeed gone global. For me, being a dancer for about three and a half decades, I was quite moved by this and extremely proud of these haumana.

Both the haumana and Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani were very inspiring, as Uncle Nathan and Auntie never flinched when the lightning and thunder came, and the haumana stood still as statues proudly as the Kumus chanted. For my part, in the beginning , my daughter came with me, as I chanted a geneaology chant for them in their honor, chanting as I knew how to chant, with the wind. I'm sure I cracked a few eardrums, I tend to blow off a lot of wind when I chant, but I tuly love to chant though. I chanted at the end as well, and this time it was a chant of pride and honour for what we had done, and the mana that was there, and the pride, honour and mana of the people of Kauai.

One of the most amazing things about this event, besides the incredibly awesome mea 'ai that was fed us (Ulu Stew and Luau! YUM), was the fact that all during the night NO RAIN fell on us. It was completely DRY! It was amazing, as someone would pound the pahu and a flash of lightening would occur, or someone would chant or dance, and the heavens would answer approvingly with flashes of lightening and booming pahu sounds of its own. This to me was a miracle and we were in the middle of it!

In the belief of the old days, and now as well, it was always believed that when the Gods and Godesses approved of a hula, a chant, or a mo'olelo, they would answer with one of their own and the lightening was the pa'a or the pounding of the hand on the great pahus of the skies, and the thunder was the sound the great pahu's made. It is said that when Pele would dance, the skies would flash with thunder and lightening. We saw this happen in front of us, and we all felt the energy from that. It was as if, for the hours of the deep night and po, a veil was lifted between the two worlds and we all celebrated together.

Towards about 12 am, we were all feeling the pull of aching bones and being tired. Kehaus voice was tireless, and I admired the fact that her chanting was still so strong after so many hours. The Kumus had to carry all of the chanting and lead it all, so I was quite impressed with that. When we were given until 3 am to wake up, I must confess myself, and several others slept right through the three oclock call of the pu! But I was up at 5 for that pu kahea! Myn legs were literally on fire, and extremely sore, and I had had to sit down, with the Kupuna when they did, even though at times I did not feel it so much, my legs had swollen very painfully so the few hours of laying down had relieved that and I felt much better by 5 am.

At 6am we realized we had actually gone all through the magical night, and it was magical. FUll of deep old mana, that cannot be explained or put into words.

Jeff Chandler, our Ohana, had come down, and we spent a lot of the time talking story and catching up, with his wife as well, and more of the Chandlers showed up. It was so good to see ohana when we aren't at a funeral! There were several well known political figures that came down, the Mayor being one, then Tim Bynum and Lani Kawahara as well.

It was Joann Yukimura that impressed me the most. But then Joann has been raised around hula and protocol, so she came with a beautiful kihei, and a beautiful la'i hokupu and presented that as well. Several other groups also came forward to present their hokupu as well, and two other halaus came as well, all male so that it was a perfect balance. One was from Maui, the other from the Westside and they were very good.

Come morning light, I think we were all hoping to see the sun rise, and get in a good "E Ala E" chant, especially since we were here, at Hikina A Ka La Heiau, but the weather did not cooperate.

But what did happen instead was amazing! As we were doing the 6am or 7am round, the Iwa birds began to circle us carefully, flying extremely low, watching us, and blessing our group with their mana. I was extremely exited to see them, since that is my youngest daughters aumakua! The Iwas were so majestic and beautiful, and we were all abuzz afterwards, interpreting the special meaning of this phenomenon. This seemed to increase or excitement, and we seemed to be even more powerful in our next go around.

It was about this time that the weather decided to take a powerful and interesting turn. We took no breaks, and every hour on the hour we repeated the ceremony again, and again, as the weather picked up. But as this was ocvcurring more and more poeple were coming down, and the crowds were gathering. About 10 oclock we started to realize some amazing weather was ocurring literally all aroujnd us, but as yet we were still relatively dry although the wind had picked up. As the weather increased, so did our mana and our determination. With each go around, we would look at each other or look heavenwards, and chant even louder, feel even stronger.

I remember glancing at Uncle Nathan and Auntie Nani, truly for me the driving force of this event, as Uncle concentrated on the pahu, and Auntie Nani's face was lifted heavenwards, two beautiful Hawaiians, who stood for so much and had done so much for this island, and all of us. They seermed transfixed and ethereal to me, as did Louie, who stood like the old Ikaika guards of old, proud, strong and immovable. The haumana stood perfectly still, nothing would move them, their faces also turned towards the heavens with pride, dignity and honour.

I suppose when you are in the middle of something like this sometimes you dont really notice what is occurring around you. My daughters arived with Eric, looking well fed, well rested and exited but concerned about me. As it got to be 11 oclock, Kaulana joined me, but I didnt want her to get cold or wet, even though she wanted to hold me up. SHe had seen I waws definately feeling a bit of pain and standing was hard. But I encouraged her to go back under the tent, as I waved for Eric, then concentrated on the last round.

Amazingly the river, at that moment began to burst forth, and the skies literally opened up. As three of the Chandlers, our dear Ohana joined the others with pahu's and chanting, I can remember at one point chanting, and my mouth filling with water, so that I had to spit it out to keep going! I had never seen raindrops so fat and heavy! But we kept chanting. We never stopped. The rain pana'd us as hard as it could but we all stood firm, proudly and chanted even louder with even more pride. We were all thoroughly soaked, as the final offerings were made, mine included, of my last chant.

When I chanted, my daughter told me all went silent. The rain, thunder lightening, everything stopped, and it was dry. She said it gave her chicken skin. But I was in the zone, that place that cannot be described. When all i could think of was the air, the sky, the aina, the sacredness of it, and pouring my heart out my mouth from my na'au like I always do when I get the chance to chant. I suppose I am a bit unorthodox, as I chant in the moment, for what is happening at that point in time. To pour out the words of the pride of the people of Kauai, "I ka mana o ka po'e o Kauai nei!", oh that felt really good!!

As each one of the participants either chanted, danced or gave a hokupu, it was then that the rain descended on us in bucket fulls, absolutely relentless. The lightning was cracking close to us, and the full glory of what the Gods could dish out was unleashed. But we saw it as a blessing, and a reminder that the land truly is above us all, and that protecting it is our duty to do so.

When a tight cuirlce was called, we all huddled close. We hugged, held hands. I sheltered I think three of Puna Dawsons haumana under my huge girth, while hugging my Chandler Ohana on one side, and grasping Auntie Nani's hand on the other. We were al together. Hearing words of wisdom from the older Kupuna. And we did not budge, we stood through it all. It was an amazing thing, when we were all ha together, breathing at the same time as "I Ku Mau Mau!" rang out loud, clear and strong.

And then we broke apart, and we all started hugging each other like we had all won the Merrie Monarch Hula Competition! There was so much aloha! Relief, pride and honour, and something relizing that we had just done something very special.

I will never forget that Wailua vigil. Ever. Nor will anyone else who went through it. Our determination to protect, preserve the 'aina regardless of race, color, skin or nationality was completely increased a million fold. We were all blessed, equally, together, as one Ohana, as one hui. Let us not forget how we felt on that day, and carry it in our hearts together.

As I always say, "pa'a i ke kapu", the kapu is broken, we are allowed, it is alright, don't be afraid. You can step forward now. You have permission. Lets remember to do that, all of us.

Aloha

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